5 ways to cash in on Pokémon Go

Become a Pokémon trainer

Pretty much every 90s kid wanted to be a Pokémon trainer, and now is your chance! If you've got time on your hands, why not offer your services to others less talented in the art of Pokémon?

Yes, this is a real thing! Last week, an American called Ivy St. Ive made headlines after she posted a Craigslist ad offering to catch Pokémon on your behalf, as well as activating every Pokéstop and giving you updates for $20 (approx £15) an hour.

Ivy claims her ad was a joke, but she got lots of requests - including a lawyer and a pregnant woman who couldn't walk far but was in a Pokémon competition with her husband.

It's not just Ivy who's cashing in on fans' inability to catch 'em all themselves. A website called PokéWalk will also be launching soon, allowing people to pay 'professional walkers' to catch Pokémon with your own phone (which doesn't really sound that safe to us...).

Prices start at $10 (about £8.50) for a 2km walk, but only for customers in America. Maybe this is your chance to set up a similar business in the UK...?

Selling your Pokémon Go account

You could make: £100s or even £1000s, depending on your account!

Some people just don't have the time, patience or energy to find rare, strong Pokémon (all that walking, right?). As a result, a fad has emerged amongst lazy people to go the quick route and buy an already-activated Pokémon account on eBay that's already miles ahead of the game!

A seller in the US recently sold their level 23 account for $1,500 (approx £1,300 AKA a lot of moolah). In the auction listing, the seller said that they were just "a broke college student in debt"... oh, how we can relate to that!

However, prices seem to have been cut dramatically, with sellers undercutting each other. This makes it unlikely you'll be able to make big bucks selling your Pokémon Go account (unless you've got some seriously rare material on there).

If you've got a high level account or rare Pokémon, have a look at what others are charging on eBay and see if it's worth selling your account. A level 23 account here in the UK recently for £175, and the going rate at the moment seems to be £250 - so still a decent amount of money!

We need to point out that if you do decide to sell your account, you're at risk of having it disabled by Nicantic as it goes against their terms of service.

Get paid to lure!

Sometimes on your quest to be the best (again, like no one ever was) you'll come across 'lure modules' at PokéStops, which a player can place to attract more wild Pokémon for 30 minutes. Lures will also be available to any other player at that stop.

A lot of PokéStops are located at real-life locations such as pubs and cafes. Business owners are now trying to cash in on hungry Pokémon masters by paying people to place lures close to their premises in order to get more foot traffic through the door – smart!

A restaurant in Covent Garden which doubles up as a PokéStop, has a designated 'lure employee' that, as the name suggests, is in charge of placing lures. They've also released a Pokémon-themed menu and are planning a 'Pokémon Go lure party' to attract more Pokémon and customers!

If your workplace is also a PokéStop, you could suggest that they too cash-in on the Pokémon craze by placing lures - which you will, of course, be happy to take care of for a little extra cash. Alternatively, mention it to a business owner and offer your services!

There have also been instances of people setting up their own stalls at PokéStops, selling water on hot days, random Pokémon merch and more. Why not, eh?

Cash in on your card collection

You could make: £100s (and even £1000s for the really rare ones)

If you were a Pokémon lover back in the day, it's likely you had a serious card collection on the go. At the time, the rarest of cards were going for a fair bit of money, but since the rise of Pokémon Go, the value of some of these cards is due to hit the roof!

Before the Pokémon Go craze began one of our readers, Cassandra, spent £15 on a box of Pokémon cards and sold a single rare card to pay for a holiday!

Some papers are reporting extremely rare cards selling for tens of thousands now, so you could pay off your entire student loan with a single card! Although we imagine you have better things to spend your cash on, right?

Become a Pokémon driver

You could make: £25 an hour

Got a car? You could become a Pokemon taxi driver!

Bahri Takyuz from London charges £25 an hour to Pokémon and PokéStop hot-spots in the Capital, allowing trainers to visit more areas without traipsing all over the city.

You'll need to have a good knowledge of the roads as well as any areas where rare Pokémon are said to inhabit, and you could even become an Uber driver and offer this as part of your service. Worth a shot, right?

You don't have to pimp your car up to look like Pikachu, but you may be able to charge more if you have Pokémon-themed decal...

If Pokémon isn't your thing but you want to make money quickly, we've loads more business ideas for you to try, and don't forget to check out our 40 money-making tips!

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